Dear staff,

As you have heard, and as was reported in the September 2010 edition of Connection, there are some new and exciting changes that are taking place at WorldVenture this year, especially within the sphere of our U.S.-focused ministry efforts. Our U.S. Ministry Operations division (which includes Recruiting, Church Connections, Paraclete, Mobilization, Communications and Transformational Ventures) has been hard at work to become more effective and efficient at how it serves the mission and our partners.

The most obvious change has been the integration of our church partnering and missionary recruiting functions into a more unified and strengthened regional presence. This has resulted in some new regional coverage in the U.S., as well as a new director-level position. Our U.S. regions have been realigned to better reflect the partner constituency of the mission, and to create more manageable field representation. The responsibilities of the former Church Connections Directors and Recruiting Coaches (both positions no longer exist) have been combined into new leadership positions called "Regional Mission Directors" (RMDs). Our five RMDs are: Nate Pache, Northeast; Dave Childers, North Central; Harold Britton, Mountain Central; Josiah (J.J.) Harling, Southwest; and Doug Hazen, Northwest. Our sixth region, the Southeast, will be served on a part-time basis by Andy Sporher until a full-time RMD is hired towards the end of 2011. WorldVenture.com is also being updated to reflect these changes (visit WorldVenture.com/Regions to learn more about our RMDs and their respective areas.)

The most interesting external shift in our new regional approach is the empowerment of the RMDs to develop a network of regionally-based Regional Mission Coaches and Regional Mission Partners. "Regional Mission Coaches" (RMCs) will be experienced, support-based (or volunteer) team members trained to serve in areas of their passion, such as helping to coach local mission candidates/applicants, or perhaps coaching and training church partners, or recruiting young people into our Journey Corps program, or developing business-based mission opportunities through Transformational Ventures—or even engaging in aspects of fundraising and development for the mission. "Regional Mission Partners" (RMPs) will serve as a grassroots network of volunteers with a passion for missions who want to advocate for WorldVenture's ministry efforts in local churches. Praise God, we are already getting traction in seeing a solid number of regional coaches and partners being identified and trained! Of course, our missionaries (current and former) often make the best coaches. In addition to local ministry supporters and members of our supporting churches, it is our hope that many RMC positions will be filled by those on home assignment, as well as by our retirees and former missionaries.

Most importantly, we believe this new structure will enable us to provide better service to our missionaries. Our regional teams will endeavor to assist them (and appointees) with representation in their churches, in communicating with their donors, and in making new church and donor connections for support discovery (whenever possible), as well as providing personal coaching and encouragement. Missionaries on home assignment will also have the opportunity to partner with their regional teams by helping to connect RMDs with local churches, and by being available to speak at churches and with recruiting candidates. Another important internal aspect of this effort is the enhancement of the organizational connection between the RMDs and our International Ministry Directors (IMDs). As the primary field leaders of both our U.S. and overseas efforts, we trust the strategic and tactical integration of these key leadership teams will lead to better communication, greater alignment and wiser decisions made closer to "real-time."

The implementation of this plan began in the fall of 2010, and is now in full swing as we move into 2011. Of course, major change like this does not come without some disruption, and, while the Church Connections and Recruiting departments served the mission well in the past, the restructure has led to the departure or reassignment of some of their staff members as of December 31, 2010. To each one, we give our heart-felt thanks for their past service and hard work, along with our prayers for God's best in the days ahead. We also thank the Lord for the opportunities our new regional model provides that we believe will help WorldVenture be more effective and efficient at serving our missionaries, supporting churches and donors, and we implore His blessings on our RMDs and their teams. As this "roll out" proceeds, we would also covet your prayers for God's continuing guidance in these efforts, as well as your feedback (you can reach me directly at j.warring@WorldVenture.com).

God bless you!

Joe Warring
Senior Vice President of U.S. Ministry Operations
Phone: 800-487-4224 x2790
J.Warring@WorldVenture.com